Friday, September 27, 2013

Education Secretary Issues Apology to HBCU Leaders - Higher Education: WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan issued a public apology to the leaders of the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) for the Obama administration’s decision to change the criteria of the popular Parent PLUS Loan program without consulting with them first.“I have talked with many of the people in this room about the PLUS Loan challenges, and I know it’s been hard, it’s been frustrating, and some of you are angry,” Duncan told the HBCU college presidents, administrators and faculty who gathered at the Hilton in Washington, D.C. for the kickoff of the National HBCU Week Conference. “I am not satisfied with the way we handled the updating of PLUS Loans, and I apologize for that.”

The apology comes after a year of heightened tensions between HBCU college presidents and the administration following a dramatic decrease in student enrollment at many of the 106 HBCUs after thousands of parents were deemed ineligible for the popular loan program due to the new credit criteria imposed by the Department of Education.